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They made a ton of Forgotten Realms and other D&D games, not to mention all the other stuff they made. Who owns the rights to all those games now? Any chance they might end up on GOG someday?
Wikipedia says Ubisoft.
SSI was acquired by Mindscape in 1994, spent time as part of Mattel, and finally became part of Ubisoft (in March 2001), which has since retired the brand name.
I think that TSR (Now Wizards of the Coast/HASBRO) has the game rights locked down pretty heavily for the D&D stuff. Likely it would have to be an arrangement between HASBRO and UBISOFT to allow release.

It's certainly not impossible to get the stuff out. SSI was a good company.
That seems very likely. Though some game rights may have been spread around more than that.
Huh, I'd always thought they were part of Games Workshop.
I think it's a little more complicated.
The current D&D licence is held by Atari until 2015. I don't think Ubisoft would be able to re-release any D&D properties until Atari's licence expires.

However, there is the issue of Hasbro's legal action against Atari which complicates things further.
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TomNook: I think it's a little more complicated.
The current D&D licence is held by Atari until 2015. I don't think Ubisoft would be able to re-release any D&D properties until Atari's licence expires.

However, there is the issue of Hasbro's legal action against Atari which complicates things further.
Doesn't Hasbro own Atari?
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tomimt: Wikipedia says Ubisoft.
SSI was acquired by Mindscape in 1994, spent time as part of Mattel, and finally became part of Ubisoft (in March 2001), which has since retired the brand name.
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tomimt:
Another reason to loathe Ubisoft, Great games, great publisher. In a year or two they will totally abandon the M&M series.
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TomNook: I think it's a little more complicated.
The current D&D licence is held by Atari until 2015. I don't think Ubisoft would be able to re-release any D&D properties until Atari's licence expires.

However, there is the issue of Hasbro's legal action against Atari which complicates things further.
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predcon: Doesn't Hasbro own Atari?
Hasbro sold its production and publishing arm (Hasbro Interactive) to Infogrames (now Atari) in 2001. In 2005 Hasbro bought back the digital rights from Atari.

So it was Hasbro Interactive that owned Atari. :)
It's no small wonder, that getting the rights to sell old game may be a bit complicated.
To be honest, I really think it can be done.

It's just the matter of sharing the cake between all parties. Ubisoft can't make money from SSI titles without the licence from Hasbro, and probably Atari would have to agree on such deal (I suspect they have exclusive licence). So, if they can arrange how to share the cake, I guess it would not be impossible to bring those game here, because everyone would get profits which without the deal don't exist.
Post edited April 27, 2011 by SLP2000
The main problem might be though, that the negotiations and lawyer fees would probably cost more that the sales of the games would make :D
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tomimt: The main problem might be though, that the negotiations and lawyer fees would probably cost more that the sales of the games would make :D
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lukipela: Most companies of this size are going to have lawyers that are employed by the company, so no extra fees would be generated.
But you miss the real issue, which is, that the sales figures would generate such a small revenues, that when shared between each company, it really doesn't seem like forth while effort from their point of view, especially for companies their size.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to see old SSI games here but I'm not holding my breath.
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lukipela: Most companies of this size are going to have lawyers that are employed by the company, so no extra fees would be generated.
Yeah, plus it's really a waste, when three parties (Hasbro, Ubisoft and Atari) can make money from nothing but quick negotiations and agreement, and they don't. I know it's not something that would bring them a fortune, but still, money is money.
And that is truly sad. I hope they would at least publish their non D&D SSI games catalog for starters, if nothing else.

But for now, only way I see them doing so is, that if some one could convince them to see the historical point of view and that while they wouldn't make tons of cash they'd generate good name among gamers.